Newbie needing dino help.

[dwest]

I only have 2 snails that survived. One I think may be immortal since it survived one of my power heads blowing up as well.

Here are some pictures with the blue lights off. Also picture of said immortal snail.

Good coralline, GHA, cyano, and yes, looks like amphidinium in the sand. I think you are on your way. Have you started dosing silicates yet?

If I were you, I would go to mcarroll big dino thread, post these pics, your current parameters, and what you are doing now. There are some very knowledgeable folks posting recently. See if they have any input.

 

[Llorgon]

I will give it a try. I have posted there before, but it just gets lost in the giant megathread.

 

[Llorgon]

And yes I started dosing silicates on saturday. I am dosing a about 10 drops in the morning, 10 drops when I get home from work and 10 drops before bed. Still reads zero on the test kit, but it sounds like that won't change. I assume it will be like N and P where I will need a crazy amount of it at the start and then slowly have to dose less and less.

 

[Jason mack]

And yes I started dosing silicates on saturday. I am dosing a about 10 drops in the morning, 10 drops when I get home from work and 10 drops before bed. Still reads zero on the test kit, but it sounds like that won't change. I assume it will be like N and P where I will need a crazy amount of it at the start and then slowly have to dose less and less.

What test kit are you using ...I've been dosing silicates and testing with saliferts ...but it doesn't work ..always 0.03...I've heard the best is a hanna si checker ..

 

[Llorgon]

What test kit are you using ...I've been dosing silicates and testing with saliferts ...but it doesn't work ..always 0.03...I've heard the best is a hanna si checker ..

Salifert test kit.... Didn't find out until after I bought it that it doesn't work.

 

[Jason mack]

Salifert test kit.... Didn't find out until after I bought it that it doesn't work.

Ja me too ...just keep increasing the dosage till you see diatoms then back it off a bit ...I was dosing 20ml liquid silicate per day on a 90g ..after 5 days I had a massive diatom bloom ...dinos almost gone ...just keep at it ...

 

[Llorgon]

Found a local reefer who will sell me some liverock from their sump.

The 2 remaining snails have been grazing more lately leaving streaks of clean glass behind them. I am thinking it might be time to add some more cleanup crew.

I don't think I have any diatoms yet, but it can be hard to tell. Some parts of the sand are turning into a much lighter brown. Maybe diatoms?

 

[dwest]

Found a local reefer who will sell me some liverock from their sump.

The 2 remaining snails have been grazing more lately leaving streaks of clean glass behind them. I am thinking it might be time to add some more cleanup crew.

I don't think I have any diatoms yet, but it can be hard to tell. Some parts of the sand are turning into a much lighter brown. Maybe diatoms?

Healthy snails are a great sign for sure. Sump liverock is good. Again, don't need a ton.

I forgot if you have a microscope or not. This is pretty cool if you don’t. You can see diatoms vs dinos. a good $10 investment.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071JQFXC4/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Llorgon]

I don't have a microscope. I just take stuff to the lfs. I should really get one though.

 

[Llorgon]

I have some diatoms!!... in my sump. At least it's something.

Oddly. I never had dinos in the sump. Just in the display.

 

[Llorgon]

I picked up a couple of pieces of liverock from another reefers sump on Saturday. I put one piece in my sump and one piece in the display.

I also picked up 5 snails on the weekend. 3 trochus and 2 astreas. All seem to be happy and roaming around the tank.

I am seeing lots of diatoms on the new piece of liverock I added not much sign of them anywhere else in the display tank.

Tank is still pretty ugly, but I think it's getting a bit better.

Below shots are of a week between sucking Dino's out of the sand.

 

[Llorgon]

Did another water change last night. Sucked up some more dinos from the sand and pulled out a bunch of gha.

I have tons of gha, but it is all covered in red cyano. So far the snails haven't made much of a dent in the algae. Wondering if it might be a good idea to add some sort of herbivore fish to help out or get a few more gha eating snails?

I am seeing parts of the sand becoming a light brown/green with no dinos growing on patches for a few weeks now. Specifically the left front side of the tank.

The pod population has exploded. I can see the sand moving and they are all over the glass.

Hoping that things will be looking better soon!

 

[dwest]

Did another water change last night. Sucked up some more dinos from the sand and pulled out a bunch of gha.

I have tons of gha, but it is all covered in red cyano. So far the snails haven't made much of a dent in the algae. Wondering if it might be a good idea to add some sort of herbivore fish to help out or get a few more gha eating snails?

I am seeing parts of the sand becoming a light brown/green with no dinos growing on patches for a few weeks now. Specifically the left front side of the tank.

The pod population has exploded. I can see the sand moving and they are all over the glass.

Hoping that things will be looking better soon!

My old tank was a 90 and I always kept at least one yellow tang in that tank. You might be able to get a small yellow tang and/or a bristletooth tank like a tomini. In your 75. More snails will help too. Sounds things are good.

 

[Danny N]

I fought Amphidium much the same way you are. I have a 300 gallon tank. I purchased 5lbs of sand from my LFS, this stuff had been in the system for god knows how long. I had a fellow reefer friend grab me a few pieces of rubble from his sump, and I also added a bottle of bacteria. I would siphon the sand through a filter sock into the sump daily, and reduced my lighting to 4hrs a day. I noticed they were really struggling to survive and did a 3 day total blackout period. They’ve been gone for a month now.

 

[Scooter90254]

I’m tagging along. Hope you don’t mind. In the middle of battling Dino’s myself. I agree the giant Dino threads are to big and it’s very tough to pull actual information out of them.

I just added a UV sterilizer today. The majority of mine are on the rocks so I’m hoping it helps.

Black didn’t help my tank at all.

I’m going to try and pick up an old piece of live rock this weekend.

Good luck and Keep us updated!

 

[Llorgon]

My old tank was a 90 and I always kept at least one yellow tang in that tank. You might be able to get a small yellow tang and/or a bristletooth tank like a tomini. In your 75. More snails will help too. Sounds things are good.

I have been thinking of the tangs. I had a yellow eye kole Tang before my power head went and nuked the tank. Also been looking into one spot foxface. Will have to wait for my lfs to get one or the other in.

I fought Amphidium much the same way you are. I have a 300 gallon tank. I purchased 5lbs of sand from my LFS, this stuff had been in the system for god knows how long. I had a fellow reefer friend grab me a few pieces of rubble from his sump, and I also added a bottle of bacteria. I would siphon the sand through a filter sock into the sump daily, and reduced my lighting to 4hrs a day. I noticed they were really struggling to survive and did a 3 day total blackout period. They’ve been gone for a month now.

What kind of bacteria did you use? I've done the blackouts and they had little effect for the dinos in the sand. It helped with the dinos I had on the rocks, but it all came back in a couple of days. Siphoning out the dinos that are in the sand seems to be having the biggest impact. Except now I'm losing all my sand.

I’m tagging along. Hope you don’t mind. In the middle of battling Dino’s myself. I agree the giant Dino threads are to big and it’s very tough to pull actual information out of them.

I just added a UV sterilizer today. The majority of mine are on the rocks so I’m hoping it helps.

Black didn’t help my tank at all.

I’m going to try and pick up an old piece of live rock this weekend.

Good luck and Keep us updated!

Ya the big dino threads are good for reading through, but posting on them doesn't seem super useful for me. I've been fighting them since October. Amphidium seems to be a long battle. I setup a uv sterilizer as well. Took care of all the dinos on the rocks, but not the sand.

 

[Danny N]

I’m pretty sure it was the Fritz bacteria. I wanted to introduce as many different strains of bacteria as possible. There is definitely an art form to grazing the sand without sucking it up.

 

[Llorgon]

I’m pretty sure it was the Fritz bacteria. I wanted to introduce as many different strains of bacteria as possible. There is definitely an art form to grazing the sand without sucking it up.

I will check it out. Did you notice much difference after adding it?

Took some more pictures. Another 3 days after water change and sucking more dinos out. Starting to see more green in the sand!

 

[Auto-pilot]

This won't solve your problem but I got a diamond goby one day and never had problems with dirty sand ever again! He can be messy sometimes but he does a great job with cleaning my sand

 

[Llorgon]

This won't solve your problem but I got a diamond goby one day and never had problems with dirty sand ever again! He can be messy sometimes but he does a great job with cleaning my sand

I actually had it on my stocking list before all these dinos started. When they are finally all gone I will definitely get one.

Also Danny N, what is the trick to sucking out the dinos without sucking up the sand. I try and take to top layer which always involves some sand.